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Support Needs of South African Social Entrepreneurs

Bev Meldrum, Andy Simpson, Louise Willington, Dr. Diane Holt and Dr. David Littlewood
Social Enterprise Academy Africa
July 2012 Author for Correspondence St. Peter's Square Office Suite, Main Road, Observatory 7925, South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 21 447 2556, Cell: +27 (0) 79 150 1020, Email: bev@sea-africa.org

ABSTRACT This paper aims to identify the ongoing support needs of social entrepreneurs in South Africa, and in particular those situated in the informal economy. Social entrepreneurship in South Africa has grown significantly over the past three years and there are a growing number of support providers either offering support to social entrepreneurs alongside of other entrepreneurs and organisations, or who are specifically focused on providing services to this group. The support for social entrepreneurs in Europe, the US and other developed regions is well established (Deraedt et al, 2009; Peels et al, 2009) as is the body of research that supports this (Lyon & Sepulveda, 2009; Lyon & Ramsden, 2006, Munoz, 2010). Until now little research has been focused on the needs of social entrepreneurs in South Africa. Assumptions cannot be made that the support needs of social entrepreneurs in an emerging economy such as South Africa will be the same as those in developed economies (Llanes & Barbour, 2007; Berner et al., 2012). Just the presence of many social entrepreneurs in the informal economy and at the base of the pyramid indicates that some of their support needs will be different to a social entrepreneur working in the formal economy in a developed country (Williams & Nadin, 2012). The existence of necessity-driven social entrepreneurs could create issues around motivation that will differ for social entrepreneurs situated in the formal economy (Orford & Wood, 2003; Williams & Round, 2009). In 2009, the International Labour Organization ran a project in South Africa aimed at raising the profile of social enterprise through a series of planned activities including research, resource development, policy discussions, a national conference and activities such as a social enterprise business plan competition (Fox & Wessels, 2010; Peel et al., 2009; Steinman, 2010). It was recognised that existing business development services (BDS) had not traditionally focused on providing tailored services for social enterprises in South Africa. (Fox, T. & Wessels, E., 2010). By 2010 local offices of international organisations such as Ashoka and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship were in existence. The University of Johannesburg and the Gordon Institute of Business Science had set up social entrepreneurship networks and centres and new

support organisations such as the African Social Entrepreneurs Network (ASEN), Heart and UnLtd South Africa were emerging (Fox, T. & Wessels, E., 2010). In 2012 the social entrepreneurship scene in South Africa has developed significantly. A number of research projects have been completed, or are underway that are identifying the state of the social entrepreneurship sector in South Africa and the support that is available. The Trickle Out research study (2011-2013) led by Dr. Diane Holt and Dr. David Littlewood of Queens University, Belfast, is a systematic evaluation of eco-social enterprises across Southern and Eastern Africa, alongside in-depth comparative case study analysis to consider what is actually happening in the field (Holt & Littlewood, 2011). The research has gathered data on over 980 social enterprises in South Africa in an online directory, and completed six in-depth case studies. In a recent mapping exercise of support available for social entrepreneurs, carried out on behalf of a social enterprise consortium, fifty support providers were identified offering services in South Africa for social entrepreneurs. The services offered ranged from a full programme of support including training, mentoring, coaching, access to finance and incubator space, to individual elements of support such as training, consultancy, investment, networks, online resources and more traditional BDS services (ASEN & Social Enterprise Academy Africa, 2012). This mapping exercise was the first stage in an ongoing research project that will track the development of support for social entrepreneurs in South Africa. Since its inception in 2008 ASEN has built a membership base of just under 3,000 members. Alongside of social entrepreneurs and staff in social enterprises their membership includes others interested in social entrepreneurship such as students, academics, government and CSI departments. A survey of all of ASENs members is being undertaken as part of this research project focusing on the support that they have accessed as social entrepreneurs and what their ongoing support needs are. Although 80% of the support organisations identified in the mapping exercise offered support to informal social entrepreneurs, only one organisation focused on this particular group. This organisation, UnLtd South Africa, early stage social entrepreneurs, including those in the informal sector providing tailor made financial and non-financial support. Research to be carried out by UnLtd South Africa with its award winners will give a clear picture of the support needs of these early stage social entrepreneurs. Using the data from the Trickle Out project, alongside of data collected in the survey of members of the African Social Entrepreneurs Network, and the UnLtd South Africa programme, this paper will identify the support needs of social entrepreneurs in South Africa, and map these against existing support provision. The literature around support of social entrepreneurs and informal entrepreneurs in developing economies suggests that issues of access to support, geographical coverage, gaps in provision, over-provision, cultural sensitivity and contextual appropriateness. will arise during this research. This paper will discuss these issues and others that arise, presenting an agenda for future research and the further development of support for social entrepreneurs in South Africa.

References

Berner, E., Gomez, G. and Knorringa, P., (2012) Helping a Large Number of People Become a Little Less Poor: The Logic of Survival Entrepreneurs, European Journal of Development Research (2012) Vol. 24, pp. 382-296. Dees, J.G., (1998), The meaning http://www.caseatduke.org/documents/dees_SE.pdf of social entrepreneurship

Deraedt, E., Peels, R. and Zhao, L. (2009) International examples of Business Development Service (BDS) products targeting small social enterprises, ILO, Geneva. Deraedt, E. (2009), Social Enterprise: A Conceptual Framework. Conceptual Discussion Paper for the ILO Social Enterprise Development Targeting Unemployed Youth in South Africa (SETYSA) project, ILO, Geneva.

Fox, T. and Wessels, E., (2010) Extending business development services to social enterprises: the case of a pilot social business plan competition on the Cape Flats, The Small Business Monitor, Vol. 6 Iss:1. Holt, D., Littlewood, D. and Harrison, R. (2011) Defining Social and Environmental Entrepreneurial Activity at the Individual, Business Model and Concept Level. Working paper presented at the 8th Annual NYU-Stern Conference on Social Entrepreneurship, New York. Llanes, M. and Barbour, A. (2007) Self-employed and micro-entrepreneurs: Informal trading and the journey towards formalisation, Community Links, London. Lyon, F. and Sepulveda, L. (2009) Mapping social enterprises: past approaches, challenges and future directions", Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. 5 Iss: 1. Lyon, F. and Ramsden, M. (2006) Developing fledgling social enterprises? A study of the support required and means of delivering it. Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. 2 Iss: 1. Munoz, S. (2010) Towards a geographical research agenda for social enterprise, AREA, Vol. 42 Iss: 3, pp. 302-312. Orford, J. and Wood, E. (2003) Why are some developing countries more entrepreneurial than others? Unpublished paper delivered at the GEM Research Conference, Berlin, 2004. Peels, R. et al. (2009) Enabling environments for social enterprise development: analytical framework and international exploratory study of good practices, ILO, Geneva. Steinman, S. (2010) An exploratory study into factors inflencing an enabling environment for social enterprises in South Africa, ILO, Geneva. Williams, C. and Nadin, S., (2012) Tackling entrepreneurship in the informal economy: evaluating the policy options, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Vol. 1 Iss: 2.

Williams, C., and Round, J., (2009) Evaluating informal entrepreneurs' motives: evidence from Moscow, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 15 Iss: 1, pp. 94 107. ______________________________________________________________________________ Diane Holt joined Queen's University Management School in May 2007 from her previous appointment as a Principal Lecturer in Environmental Management at Middlesex University Business School. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has experience in a range of academic roles, including programme leadership, curriculum design and teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level. She has extensive experience of international recruitment and teaching three semesters seconded to the Middle East to oversee the set up of new business school programmes at Middlesex University Dubai and international recruitment activities in Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Kenya, Uganda and Mauritius. Diane is the principal researcher on the Trickle Out project. email: d.holt@qub.ac.uk

David Littlewood joined Queen's University Management School in February 2011 as a full time Research Fellow working on the Trickle Out Project. Prior to this appointment David carried out PhD research in the Geography Department at the University of Sheffield. David's PhD research examined corporate social responsibility in the mining industry in Namibia and its relationship with development and poverty alleviation. As part of this research David spent a year conducting fieldwork in Namibia. David has undertaken a number of presentations to academic audiences, and carried out a variety of teaching activities while working towards his PhD. David is currently working on journal publication of aspects of his PhD research alongside his work for the Trickle Out Project. email: d.littlewood@qub.ac.uk

Bev Meldrum holds an MA in Social Enterprise: Development & Management from the University of East London in the UK where she lectured in Social Enterprise and International Development. Bev now works with the Social Enterprise Academy Africa as their Business Development Management and the African Social Entrepreneurs Network as the national Operations Manager. email: bevmeldrum@gmail.com cell: 079 150 1020

Louise Willington is currently CEO of UnLtd South Africa. She has 15 years experience in the private, public and not for profit sectors. She worked for the global retailer Tesco for 6 years, developing and delivering change programmes across stores, distribution and commercial functions. Prior to Tesco, she was in the Enterprise Team at the UK Government Treasury. Louise has an MBA from Harvard Business School and spent a few years with LEK Consulting, a global strategy consulting firm. She was a Trustee of UnLtd UK for 4 years. email: louise.willington@unltdsouthafrica.org cell: 078 827 8214

Andy Simpson is the CEO of Imani Development South Africa an economic development agency that works across Africa. He has over twenty years experience in business to business development support and project management. He has been responsible for setting high level operational objectives, team and project management for more than 40 concurrent business partners in the UK for well over a decade. During that time he also supported the development of a number of not for profit enterprises in UK and Mozambique through detailed business planning; mentoring; resource planning and evaluation. Latterly he has been instrumental in the creation of the Social Enterprise Academy Africa. email: andy@imanidevelopment.com cell: 072 584 0191

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